Pieces
by the Sin Hunter Alchemist
Summary: A 16-year-old Iruka Umino has to survive the chuunin initiation. His first two tasks are simple enough, but his third has him facing off head to head against an ANBU.
1. Breaking the Mask

It had started as a dare.

Iruka, as a brand new chuunin, would need to complete three dares to be accepted by the other chuunin. It wasn't required by the village, but it was by every teenage and young adult chuunin from Konoha.

He already had completed two of the dares (steal a pair of underwear from a fellow chuunin and genjutsu the Hokage's office); there was just one more standing in the way of him _being_ a chuunin.

This one was the most dangerous, as all third dares are. He had to steal something, which is normal for a ninja task. It was _what_ he had to steal that was unusual, and who he had to steal it from.

Iruka's third task was to steal a kiss from a member of ANBU.

This had been thought up after a long meeting between a few of the senior chuunin (senior here meaning the group of five twenty-year-olds that had been chuunin for three or so years but had yet to integrate with the rest of the nins of their rank). Iruka had completed the first two dares in a matter of a couple hours, which was very good for a chuunin, but unacceptable to those who dared him. It showed failure on their parts as much as success on his.

Which is why they choose ANBU to be his target.

Kotetsu and Izumo being backstabbing traitors that needed their tongues cut out is why they choose a kiss. The two had decided to rat out their friend and tell the older chuunin that he'd never had a girlfriend. Luckily, two of the senior chuunin had been girls themselves, which is why he only needed to steal a kiss and not anything more.

Now he had to find himself an ANBU.

Iruka wasn't going to worry about the kiss yet. That was the easy part (if any part could be called easy). The hard part would be finding an ANBU.

It was aggravating, really. He was sure he passed several on the street everyday, even had a good idea of who they might be. But that wouldn't count, to just grab one of them on the street and kiss them. He had no way of proving that they were in the notorious group. Everyone knew that Ibiki was part of ANBU - he was the head of torture and investigation, what else could he be? - but no one ever said it because no one was _supposed_ to know. Also, he wasn't going to kiss Ibiki.

He thought for a minute about just hanging out in the Hokage's office, something that wasn't entirely unusual of him to do, but decided against it. Sure, ANBU would be coming into the office all day, but the Hokage had already figured out who genjutsu'd his office and so Iruka thought it best to steer clear.

Damn.

Oh well. He'd just have to find himself an ANBU. And he was pretty sure he knew how to do that. It'd just take a lot of patience.

Iruka had heard rumors as a child about ghosts in the Forest of Death. These were spread by the civilian population and interpreted by a young Iruka as the forest was a midnight rendezvous for ANBU. He had waited for days in that forest, waiting for the ANBU to come - it was a few months after his parents were killed by the Nine-Tails and he no longer cared if he was eaten by some monster. He was luckily spared by the creatures that lived there and on his fourth day of luck, he saw the white porcelain masks of ninja children's nightmares.

As a chuunin, he knew that going into the Forest of Death had been a stupid mistake. But now he knew he could fight off anything he came in contact with - of the non-nin variety, at least. But he wouldn't be attacked by any creatures.

Being exceptionally good at genjutsu, Iruka had designed one that would be just strong enough so that the creatures of the forest should leave him be, but not quite strong enough to entice too much wonder by any nin walking through. He still wasn't sure how he was going to kiss one of the ANBU, once they came through, nor was he entirely sure how he could prove it. But he'd find himself an ANBU.

Nearly ten hours later found Iruka extremely bored. Not so much as a mouse ran through the forest since he hid himself away. Not even a stray wind burst through the leaves. It was all… very… tiring…

Iruka woke up maybe a half hour later to the snapping of a twig. Finally! He didn't have time to think up a plan or even see what had snapped the twig, however. There was a shuriken flying at his face.

What Iruka hadn't realized was that when he woke up, he jerked. This meant that his weak genjutsu, which was the equivalent to wearing a camouflage blanket, wavered. Any good nin would attack.

A fairly cocky one did.

Instincts took over for the terrified chuunin and he flung out two kunai; one deflected the shuriken, the other flew at the face of his attacker.

There was the sound of porcelain shattering, then all went silent.

"You broke my mask," said the attacker. He seemed dazed, as if he couldn't believe it.

Iruka couldn't either. Those mystified eyes staring at him were ones he well recognized. Anyone would. They were the mismatched eyes of the legendary Copy Nin Kakashi Hatake.

Iruka was mortified.

Few people saw Kakashi Hatake face to face. Some even thought him to be mere lore. Iruka hadn't wanted to find out. Not while he was just a chuunin.

He was pretty sure he was about to die.

The Copy Nin traced long fingers across his jaw and temple, as if making sure that the mask really was gone. His red eye seemed to stay focused on Iruka, even as it and his other eye swept the ground to glance at the porcelain pieces.

When he looked back at Iruka, the chuunin had finally decided to stand. He didn't want to be kneeling in some bush when he died. Izumo and Kotetsu would never stop laughing. He stood up, straight and as tall as he could manage - which wasn't very for his 16-year-old self - and gripped another kunai.

Kakashi frowned at this.

"You traitor or something?" he asked, arm snaking around his shoulder to grip the sword latched onto his back.

Iruka was taken aback, so much so he forgot himself for a moment.

"No! I'm a chuunin!"

It didn't really explain anything, not to a logical mind, but it seemed to pacify Kakashi, who promptly released hilt of blade.

"Chuunin? Then why are you in the Forest of Death?"

Glaring - for whatever reason, Iruka resorted back to his childish, defiant self when terrified - the chuunin snapped his words out.

"I'm finishing my rites of passage."

Kakashi whistled, a low sound that sent Iruka's hair standing on end. It might have been his imagination, but that whistle sounded almost like a far off resounding howl of a wolf or dog.

"And which one are you on?"

"The Third."

It sounded ominous in the air. Kakashi looked at him appreciatively.

"What were your first two?"

Iruka wasn't sure why he was answering, just knew it staved off death for a few more seconds.

"Steal another chuunin's underwear," he muttered, suddenly feeling bashful. It sounded so crude.

But Kakashi was grinning now.

"I choose Anko…" Here Kakashi looked mildly surprised. "… and stuffed them in someone's pocket before she could track me down."

The laughter surprised Iruka, but Kakashi waved him on.

"My second task was to genjutsu the Hokage's office. I made it so that he'd see these really attractive girls from the corner of his eyes, but could never look right at them."

The laughter had died down and now Kakashi was just staring at him approvingly.

"So your third is something like stay in the Forest of Death so long or something?"

Iruka shook his head sharply.

"No, I have to kiss a-"

He cut himself off, eyes wide. He probably would have clamped a hand over his mouth if it wasn't for his years of ninja training. And the kunai he still held.

"Kiss?" Kakashi asked, extremely interested. "Kiss a what? A tree? A bird?"

Iruka shook his head slowly, though he was sure Kakashi already knew. There was a sly grin on that face, hidden under that mask and behind those eyes.

"Then what?"

_He's going to make me say it!_ Iruka thought, suddenly angry at the man again.

"An _ANBU!_" he growled, glaring daggers at the smirking man.

Kakashi just smiled wider.

"And your plan of seduction involved throwing a kunai at my face?"

Iruka huffed and looked away.

When he glanced back, it was only to see Kakashi inches away from him.

"Well, you going to steal your kiss little chuunin?"

His eyes looked absolutely predatory. Iruka had a mere second to think before he lunged forward, pecked Kakashi on his cheek, and ran for his life.

He had enough sense to grab a piece of the broken mask. That should serve as proof enough for the others.


	2. Collecting the Pieces

AN: Okay, okay, I caved. Here's the part two to Pieces, like ya'll demanded so nicely. I expect a review from everyone of you that demanded this! It's the polite thing to do. Enjoy!

* * *

Once clear of the Forest of Death, all Iruka wanted to do was go home and die. He had never been so embarrassed before in his life! It was as if Kakashi knew exactly which buttons to push to get a rise out of him.

True, most of the village knew which buttons would get a rise, but Iruka had never been angry _like that_ before. Back there he had been- been- he had been plain indignant.

It was a foreign feeling but one he was sure he'd get over. In time. At least the Copy Nin hadn't followed him.

With that thought, Iruka squared his shoulders and set a path for the training ground. It was the unofficial meeting place for young chuunin and - as it was just nearing dusk - at least half a dozen should be there. Hopefully Kotetsu and Izumo were still around. Iruka had a kunai for them.

* * *

Kakashi smirked as the little chuunin ran off, merely turning to watch him flee.

The boy had been cute, to say the least. Far more entertaining than patrols. He had just been planning to sleep through his shift, anyway, and let Yugao handle it. She'd be pissed, but the job would get done and that's what the Hokage cared about.

Speaking of the Hokage…

Kakashi gathered the pieces of his mask and deposited them in his shuriken pouch. He had to take out the shuriken, to fit all the shards, so he stuck them in his pocket and ignored that that went against one of the first things he learned about weapon safety.

With that taken care of, he took off for the Hokage's office.

The third was doing what looked like completely generic paperwork when Kakashi swung in through the window. The Copy Nin wasn't even sure it was official Konoha business. He had used his sharingan once to copy the man's writing only to have a rather descriptive monologue about how boring the report Ibiki had given just before was.

Someday, Kakashi was going to play this trump card of his, but today, he didn't think he'd need it.

Sarutobi looked pissed.

He didn't look over at Kakshi, which wasn't necessarily strange. What was odd was how the old man jumped when Kakashi walked around into his eye line.

"You're real?! Oh thank god!"

Kakashi only had a moment of pause before he connected what his little chuunin had said to this reaction.

"So, still genjutsu'd old man?"

The third glared at him, though Kakashi thought it had less to do with him and more to do with the little prankster that did the actual harm.

"You heard about that, huh? When Iruka decides it's safe to show his face around here again, I'm going to… to do something. That boy thinks he's got the run of the place…"

He trailed off at that, giving a very amused Kakashi time to cut in.

"Iruka?"

"Oh?" Sarutobi looked up, startled. "Iruka? Yes, Iruka Umino. That brat's been pranking me for years, but this, this is going too far."

"He does this often? Prank you, that is?"

"Yes, he-"

Sarutobi stopped and really looked at Kakashi for a moment.

"Kakashi, where is your mask?"

The Copy Nin grinned and dropped his shuriken pouch on the desk.

"Iruka's got pretty quick reflexes."

The man just stared at the shuriken pouch, afraid to open it. He leveled Kakashi with a blank stare.

"You're not getting a new one."

The grin did not waver from Kakashi's face.

"I plan to put it back together, but first, I need to get the last piece of it back. Do you know where Iruka would be? He needs to prove that he finished his rites of passage, if that helps?"

A frown spread across Sarutobi's face.

"Rites of passage? Is that what this is all about?"

Kakashi nodded, eyes curving into happy crescents.

"The chuunin meet in the training ground sometimes. Try there. And make sure you get back at that little brat for me."

"Oh, it'll be a day he won't forget, sir."

* * *

Iruka _had _found a group of chuunin (which, fortunately, _had _included Kotetsu and Izumo) and was presently showing off the piece of the porcelain mask he had snatched.

"Oh, common!" Izumo rolled his eyes, taking the shard from Iruka. "How do we know that this came from an ANBU? I mean, it's just a piece of white porcelain. There isn't even any paint! This could be from a bowl!"

Iruka grabbed it back, cutting Izumo's finger on the way. The teen cursed, sticking the injured appendage in his mouth and leveling Iruka with a glare.

"You try and come head to head with an ANBU and stick around long enough to find the best piece."

Anko grinned from her perch on a dead log.

"Give the boy a break. He's _obviously _afraid of kissing someone for the first time!"

The glare that met this statement was nothing compared to the sudden chill in the silence.

"Oh, common Iruka! You blush _all the time_, _every time_ something like this is brought up. And we all know you've never been kissed."

"Well, I kissed an ANBU like you guys dared me to!" Iruka shouted.

The others conferred for a moment before Anko declared, a huge grin on her face, "We don't believe you!"

"Like you could break an ANBU's mask anyway!"

Iruka was prepared to launch his whole arsenal of weapons at them - some of them just _had _to stick - when something fell from the sky and landed in front of him.

The other chuunin froze, eyes wide as they took in the sight of the Legendary Copy Nin, who was very obviously dressed in the garb of an ANBU, tattoo and all. The only thing missing was the mask.

"Hey there, Iruka," Kakashi drawled, a lazy grin showing even through the black cloth of his face mask. "Long time no see."

Iruka wasn't sure if he should be angry or glad at the man's sudden appearance.

"Hey there yourself, Kakashi," Iruka said slowly, deciding that confused matched the situation more anyway. "What're you doing here?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that. This little chuunin had nerve!

"Seems you have something of mine. I want it back."

Any civilian would have glanced down at the porcelain shard that was hidden in him palm or grip it tighter. Iruka, being a good nin, did neither of these things. He merely cocked his head, staring up at the Copy Nin through his bangs.

"I'll give it back to you if you tell them I kissed you."

A strangled sound came from the group of chuunin behind Kakashi (probably Kotetsu, Iruka thought with dark humor).

_Serves him right._

Kakashi's head wiped around, though from the comment or the noise, Iruka wasn't sure. He took in the small gathering he'd interrupted - though it was all for show, there was no way he didn't know when he was surrounded by people - and hummed.

"I don't know, Iruka," Kakashi said and he turned back to the 16-year-old. "I don't think what you did counts for what they want. Besides, I can easily just _take _it from you."

For a second, Iruka saw red. He was able to control himself enough, however, to _not_ attack the _member of ANBU_. It would not end well for him, he was sure.

"Fine, take it then, but I won't _give_ it to you."

For reasons unknown to the chuunin around him, Kakashi burst out laughing. Once he calmed down enough, he leveled Iruka with a very amused look.

"Tell you what, kid, I'll help you out, kay?"

"Wha-"

Kakashi, in what had to be record speed, pulled down his mask and pressed their lips together, cutting off Iruka's question.

It was probably for the best, anyway. He really couldn't remember what he had been about to ask anyway.

Iruka had been leaning against a fence on the outskirts of the training field. Now, he clung to that fence for dear life.

* * *

Kakashi, in the meanwhile, tried not to let his smile get too big. His little chuunin was as stiff as a board - and not in the good way. He really had never been kissed.

Well, Kakashi could fully remedy that situation.

* * *

There was suddenly a tingling sensation in his lips and the logical part of Iruka's brain - the part that hadn't died, at least - told him Kakashi was humming. Was that normal? It wasn't… bad.

And then there was a tongue against him lips and then in his mouth because for some reason he had opened his mouth at the probing question of that tongue. That was weird, but the outcome? Not unpleasant.

A small noise escaped his throat, and he wasn't sure if he was kissing back now, but Kakashi didn't seem to be complaining. Quite the contrary, if that grunt was anything to go by. Then there were strong hands on his hips and a hard, warm body pressing against him and when had his hands grabbed Kakashi's forearms? They were very nice, Iruka found himself thinking as he slowly started to knead them. Very nice.

All too soon, Kakashi was pulling back, breaking the very nice kiss that Iruka really didn't want broken yet. Ever.

So the chuunin did the only thing he could think to do and lunged forward, trying to continue the kiss.

Kakashi, the utter _bastard_, tried to dodge him. Iruka was fast, though, and he ended up with Kakashi's bottom lip between his teeth, glaring at the older man.

Kakashi wanted to laugh at what the situation had turned into.

" 'ruka, ah need mah 'ip back."

Iruka licked at the lip between his teeth, looking lightly apologetic, which just made Kakashi want to laugh again. He settled for snorting, his eyes dancing with glee.

Finally, Iruka released Kakashi's lip and leaned back. He suddenly remembered that they had an audience and grew coy, staring fixedly at the center of Kakashi's chest.

The Copy Nin, in the meantime, pulled his mask up and studied the sudden change in the young man before him. Iruka glanced at him through his bangs, but quickly went back to staring at his chest.

_Well, we can't have that._

Kakashi grabbed Iruka's chin, forcing the chuunin to meet his eyes.

"It seems you've dropped the piece of my mask that I was coming to find. I'm really a very busy nin, Iruka, and I don't have time to wait around while you find it, so…" He shoved his shuriken pouch at Iruka's chest. The chuunin looked panicked for a second before realizing Kakashi wasn't trying to kill him and grabbed the pouch. "I'll swing by your place in a few hours for it, so get to work."

With that, he was gone. Iruka glanced down at the shuriken pouch, opening the flap enough to see what was inside it and groaned.

He _had_ broken it, though…

Adding the fallen shard to the pouch, he look up at the other chuunin. They all looked shocked, to say the least.

"See? Told you I completed the task!"

Kotetsu and Izumo looked at each other for a moment before Kotetsu announced, "Yea, we're not accepting it. _He_ stole the kiss from _you_."

With a vicious snarl, Iruka tackled the backstabbing traitor.


	3. Putting them Together

AN: Okay, I really shouldn't be posting this yet because I haven't had it properly beta'd but I just can't wait any longer. And I'm probably screwing myself over because I don't want to stick myself with this plot but I've already done it so you all best appreciate it.

This fic is officially IN PROGRESS!

Oh, and I just started up a fanfic blog. I'll be posting things I'm working on there. Hopefully I'll get a bit of a following who will help me with ideas and the such. My blog is at http : // notmyfiction . blogspot . com /

You know the drill, just remove the spaces. (And no, there is no www, it just starts as notmyfiction).

* * *

Iruka didn't think of the kiss while he was wrestling with Kotetsu. It was probably for the best, because ten seconds in and Izumo had launched himself on top of the two. The other chuunin went back to their training (Although, thinking back, Iruka was sure they were really spreading the news as far as possible because there really is no such thing as secrets in a village of ninja. They were all such gossips). Anko spent a few minutes cheering on the fight before she, too, got bored with it.

Iruka was winning and that really was no fun for her.

Eventually, the fight fizzled out. It became less real after Izumo joined in anyway; the other two didn't want to hurt Iruka, after all, even if at first he wanted to hurt them.

In the end, they were reduced to a pile of laughing teenage boys. Iruka pushed himself up and found that he was now on the bottom of the pile. Jabbing Kotetsu in the ribs with his elbow, he got up.

"Now, Iruka, have you got that out of your system?"

The teen snorted.

"If you two don't tell the other chuunin that I completed the third task, I'm telling your parents that you guys are using your training time to 'get to know' each other better."

Kotetsu's jaw dropped, the boy apparently speechless while Izumo spluttered, "That only happened once!"

"Whatever. I have to get home. Apparently, I need to put an ANBU mask back together." He sighed, picking up the discarded shuriken pouch. "Wish I knew what it had looked like before I broke it."

"Man, I can't believe you broke Kakashi Hatake's mask!" Izumo whistled. Iruka couldn't help but notice how different it was from Kakashi's. Didn't sound at all like a howl. "How'd you manage that?"

"Threw a kunai at him," was all Iruka gave in way of explanation.

He left them then to ponder that statement.

Iruka didn't think about the kiss on the way home, either. The journey was delayed by having to stop to buy super glue and something to eat for dinner, but all too quickly he had what was probably hundreds of shards of porcelain spread across his table.

This was going to take hours.

It took all his concentration to fit the small ceramic bits together, so he didn't think about the kiss then either. It really was hard to put together a puzzle without a picture of what it is supposed to look like - it probably didn't help that all of the pieces wanted to fit together, either.

Afterwards, he was tired and hungry (it had been a rather eventful day, after all) and his brain couldn't be bothered with anything other than food or sleep.

He _did _have to think about it when his sleep was interrupted by his bedroom window slidding open.

"Is a kunai to the face your go to move?"

"I don't expect to be attacked this often by the same person," Iruka explained, throwing his pillow at the Copy Nin instead.

The man easily caught that too. Unlike the kunai, which he stabbed into the window sill were several other sharp objects resided, Kakashi tossed the pillow back onto the bed before flopping down next to Iruka. The teen, in the meantime, had buried his face in his other pillow.

"So, how's my mask looking?" Kakashi asked, putting his arms behind his head and getting comfortable.

"You know, I thought it would be different, meeting one of Konoha's legends. It's really just annoying and kind of tiring."

"You left out sexy."

Iruka propped himself up so he could look down at the man. He had changed into the generic uniform worn by many chuunin and jounin. Iruka imagined someday he would wear it, but he couldn't bring himself to give up the t-shirts and mesh of his academy days quite yet.

At some point after entering the bedroom Kakashi had pulled down his mask, but that didn't impress Iruka all that much. He had only known the man for six hours, after all, and half the time they were face to face, his mask was down anyway.

His face annoyed Iruka right now.

"Is this what you do? Meet young ninja and take advantage of their inexperience so you can harass them?"

"Helps if they're orphans that live by themselves."

Iruka, for once, didn't rise to the bait. It took all his self control and stuffing his face into the pillow, of course. There might have been screaming into the plush object, but that wasn't important.

He wasn't as angry after that, and he chanced propping himself back up.

Kakashi was grinning.

Iruka decided to ignore their previous topic.

"Your mask is out on the table in the kitchen. Not sure if it's good as new, considering I didn't know what it was supposed to look like, but it's put together."

"I'm sure you did as well as can be expected. I mean, I would have just stolen someone else's by now anyway." The Copy Nin's grin widened. "You're saving me a lot of work, little Iruka."

"Little?! You can't be more than two years older than me!"

"Actually," Kakashi said, looking up thoughtfully, "unless I'm wrong, which I absolutely never am, I'm four years older than you. And, considering I've been a chuunin for seven years, I could argue that I am in fact, seven years older in maturity."

Iruka couldn't help but snort.

"You must mean maturity in the respect to being a ninja, because you're acting like a boy with a school yard crus- OW!"

Chocolate brown eyes stared down at the man, disbelief dancing below the surface.

"Did you just pull my hair?" Iruka asked slowly, voice very strained.

"You were saying that I was acting like a boy with a school yard crush," Kakashi explained gleefully. "I just thought I'd agree with you. You know, play along."

"Play along."

Iruka stared at him, long and hard, before sighing.

"You want something from me, don't you?"

"Now, why would you think that Iruka?"

His single black eye curved happily, though, telling Iruka he had come to the correct conclusion.

"Because you're apparently a manipulative jerk."

With that, he shoved the man off the bed. Kakashi dodged the shove, of course, but the end result was the same. The man stood by the door leading out to the rest of the apartment, waiting.

Iruka got up, walking toward the doorway and pretending to ignore the man standing in it.

His intention was to shoulder past the man to show his irritation. Kakashi, in his completely inappropriate and unfunny humor, decided it would be best to not let him get away with this. Iruka found himself bouncing backwards as if the man before him had been a wall.

Oh, that was it.

The chuunin dropped to the floor, kicking out at the man. Kakashi, of course, dodged again. The point, however, was that in dodging he left the room.

Iruka bolted after him, feinting to the left, feinting to the right, before finally leaping at Kakashi head on.

The ANBU would have seen this a mile off, but the point wasn't to tackle the man.

Kakashi didn't want to hurt Iruka, after all. So Iruka knew exactly how he would react.

The chuunin was flipped onto his small couch. Which promptly disappeared into a puff of smoke.

_That _surprised the ANBU.

He looked around, closing his natural eye as he lifted his headband to scan the small apartment with his Sharingan.

"Iruka?" Kakashi called out, turning away from where the little couch had been. "Iruka, we really shouldn't fight. I'm going to win. It's not at all fair."

"Don't know about that," said a voice to his right.

The man turned to see Iruka standing in the doorway to what had to be the bathroom.

"I seem to have thrown you for a loop. I say this one goes to me," he explained, stretching and looking far too smug for his age and station. "I made you use your Sharingan after all."

Iruka, despite his smug look, was fighting the intense urge to twitch under that gaze.

He was pretty sure he just pissed off the Copy Nin, renowned for his genius.

And his insanity.


	4. Revealing the Truth

An: Short chapter. Sorry. I'm halfway done with the next one and it should be posted by Saturday at the latest, but this had to stop here. Any longer and it would have lost the tiny bit of dramatic suspense that I haven't been building. Enjoy.

* * *

Iruka was pretty sure he just pissed off the Copy Nin.

The man didn't show any anger on the visible part of his face, but no proper jounin would. Even his usually masked lips didn't twitch.

He just stared at Iruka with that blood red eye, tomoes(1) rotating slowly.

"You have a point there, little Iruka," the man stated slowly, his voice stiff. It reminded Iruka of when he asked if he was a rogue ninja.

It was the voice of an ANBU.

"So, tell me how you one upped the Copy Nin."

This was the opening the chuunin was waiting for.

"You tell me what you want from me," He was pretty sure Kakashi had no intention of doing so when he brought it up earlier; hopefully this would get it out of him, "and I'll tell you how I gave you the slip for a few seconds."

For a moment, Kakashi's eye hardened and Iruka knew what that meant. That eye promised pain and death and…

And Kakashi was suddenly grinning and flopping down into one of the few armchairs Iruka had.

"You've got guts. Seriously. I like that. Means this thing won't be boring."

The tension in Iruka's shoulders was the only thing that betrayed his relaxed pose. As calmly as he could, the chuunin cocked an eyebrow in question.

Kakashi recognized it for the question it was and motioned for Iruka to come closer. He didn't, of course. Crazy ANBU wasn't making any sense yet.

"I'll accept your deal, but first you have to tell me how you did that. I think I could have figured it out with my Sharingan had it been uncovered, but I honestly never expected you to be that good."

His expression said kudos, but all Iruka heard was 'I can't believe a chuunin surprised me.'

He tried to be offended by that, but the little boy still within jumped in glee at being acknowledged in such a way. And by his generation's most famous nin!

"You first," he found himself saying, but relented enough to move towards the other armchair. It was far enough away that Kakashi couldn't hit or grab him.

Well, unless he left his seat. Which he could do long before Iruka's brain could react. But that wasn't the point.

Kakashi raised an eye brow, but there was a hint of a nod in how he tilted his head forward. He stretched, somehow sprawling himself even more across the chair he was in. That couldn't be comfortable

"I couldn't believe someone broke my mask," Kakashi started amiably. "I wasn't expecting that second kunai."

If he was being completely honest, he wasn't really expecting the first one either. He wouldn't have even stopped if he hadn't been so curious about what was lurking in the forest. That's why he snapped that twig. The shuriken was just a reflex, one he wasn't proud of not controlling properly.

"I had thought it must have been another ABU or a really lucky jounin. But then you stood up and I didn't recognize you. Even though you smelled like Konoha, you had to have been a missing nin. That's the only way that you could have hit me."

The tomoes in Kakashi's sharingan were spinning rapidly now. Iruka was sure if he got close enough, he could hear them whirring. Kakashi, noticing him tense, pulled his headband over it stiffly and opened his black eye again.

The teen couldn't help but visibly relax.

"But you said you were a chuunin."

Kakashi suddenly let out a bark of a laugh, startling Iruka. The jounin was sitting up now, perched on the edge of his seat, elbows on his knees. He was staring at Iruka so intently and the young man couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched by a predator.

"You were a chuunin. A _chuunin_! I haven't been one upped by a chuunin since I was a preteen! And you just flicked a kunai and I was unmasked. If the third wasn't so flustered, I would have had hell to pay for a _whole group_ of chuunin knowing I was ANBU."

Iruka didn't think he liked the intensity of the man's stare.

"You want to know what I want, little _Iruka_?"

He didn't, actually. Not anymore. He was afraid of what the Hound would do to him now.

"I want _you_."

Huh.

With a small gasp, Iruka fainted.

* * *

1- A tomoe is the comma like black mark that expresses the power behind the Sharingan.


	5. Returning the Mask

AN: So I tried to hold off 'til Saturday, because I have an updating policy that hadn't been met, but I just got too impatient and chapter four was short anyway, so...

Okay, I just wanted to acknowledge a concern brought up in one of my reviews. I can't say I'm glad someone brought it up, 'cause it's the sort of thing authors hope their readers will ignore, but the reviewer _did_ have a point. Unfortunately, I'll have to talk about it at the end of the chapter in order to not ruin the beginning.

By the way. This is the **last chapter** of Pieces. Don't worry though. I'll be putting up some sort of sequel. Details of such are in the end note.

* * *

The first thing Iruka noticed when he came to was a rather intense but dull ache in the back of his head. He had experienced this sort of headache before and hoped that dizziness wouldn't accompany the sudden wave of nausea that hit him as he dashed to the bathroom.

After emptying his stomach of its meager contents - damn, when was the last time he ate? - Iruka stood and leaned his head against the cold glass of the mirror. How the hell had he hit the back of his head?

He remembered slipping off the armchair for some reason…

It all came crashing back to him when he noticed another face reflected in the mirror.

"_I want you."_

Ignoring _that _for now…

"How'd I hit my head?" Iruka asked, trying his damnedest to keep his voice calm.

Kakashi, mask back in place, gave Iruka what was probably a sheepish grin; he had to guess because all he had to go on was the curve of Kakashi's visible eye and how he was scratching his jaw nervously.

"Well… that's sort of my fault. When you fainted and slipped, I grabbed you and you lashed out. Instinct, I suppose."

Iruka, now carefully feeling the bump on the back of his head, sent a sharp look at the Copy-Nin's reflection.

"So I lashed out and you hit me over the head?"

"Aah- not quite. I sort of, um, dropped you."

Kakashi beamed then, his eyes turning into happy crescents.

"You dropped me?" Iruka asked, not quite believing that.

The jounin nodded happily.

"And I hit my head?"

"On the coffee table."

Iruka stared into his own confused brown eyes.

"On the coffee table," he repeated, not sure if he believed this situation.

"That's when you woke up, too," Kakashi offered, as if that would help matters. "I think I frightened you. Your own fault, you're the one that asked."

"Right," Iruka muttered, more to himself than Kakashi. He'd asked.

"_I want you."_

Kakashi _had_ frightened him. He didn't know what those words meant and it really couldn't be anything good.

"I'm really not anything special," Iruka found himself blurting out. He refused to look straight at Kakashi so he was stuck with the mirror image of the man's reaction.

"Oh?"

It wasn't much of a reaction, but the status quo was worse than change would have been at the moment.

"Really," Iruka replied. "That thing with the mask? That was just instinct too- that, and a bit of luck. And me catching you on the sly? That was a convenient prank. Nothing more."

Kakashi was leaning against the door frame now, looking rather unimpressed.

"You expect me to believe that a chuunin could trick an ANBU with a prank?"

Iruka shrugged. He was at a loss for what to do. He was itching to open the mirror cabinet at pull out some pain killers to stop the pounding in his head, but then he would loose sight of Kakashi. And that could be disastrous.

Instead, he braced himself against the sink, not sure why he felt the need to do so but thinking it would help.

"Yes. It was a stupid prank that I had set up for Anko because she broke my old couch with a trap she set in my living room. I made a weak henge of my old couch and set up traps around the room so no one would notice it. I figured you didn't really want to hurt me, so if I ran straight for you, you'd either dodge and I'd hit the couch or you'd throw me on it. When I hit it, the henge released into that cloud of smoke and I used that as a cover."

He rolled his shoulders backwards and then let them fall slack again in a tense shrug.

"Just a very convenient prank that you weren't expecting. I'm good at surprising people, but I'm not anything special, really. I can only ever surprise someone for the first couple of weeks anyway. Apparently, if you know me, I become predictable."

Kakashi didn't believe that for even half of a second.

"That doesn't change _my_ answer," Kakashi intoned.

"It will," Iruka said, "in time."

"Probably. But for now, I want you. It's as simple as that."

At that, Iruka spun around. He sprung backwards - though he only went a couple of inches as the sink refused to let him just sink through it - upon seeing how close Kakashi suddenly was.

He knew he couldn't take his eyes off him… even for a half second…

He floundered for a moment before remembering himself.

"I'm not having sex with you."

Kakashi blinked, clearly surprised, and would have repeated that barking laugh again if Iruka didn't look like he was afraid to be pushed against the wall right then and there.

"Of course you won't!" Kakashi exclaimed instead, making his tone as cheerful as possible. "You seem to be close to the Third and if he found out I deflowered his sixteen-year-old chuunin, it'd be nothing but rank D missions for the next year- if he doesn't just throw me in jail for a couple months to let me think about who I'd done."

Iruka didn't have the presence of mind to become enraged at the use of the word who instead of what. He was too busy being enraged at something else in that statement.

"DEFLOWERED?!"

Kakashi reeled back, stunned at the outburst. Iruka had been practically _quivering_ moments before…

"Well, that _is _one of the acceptable terms for taking someone's virginity, yes," Kakashi explained slowly, wondering where he'd lost the other nin.

"_Deflowering_ is for kunoichi and gardens! I'm no woman, _Hatake_. And how dare you just _assume_ that I'm a virgin or that I'd _let _you _deflower_ me!"

So the brunette had a temper. This _definitely_ wouldn't get boring.

But Kakashi couldn't very well let him think he had the upper hand here. He was not the kind of man that let his girlfriend walk all over him (and really, it was Iruka's fault that Kakashi was henceforth going to refer to him as such; bringing up kunoichi and then refereeing to Kakashi deflowering him? Kakashi would be nothing but a disappointment if he let that go unnoticed).

The next thing Iruka knew, he _was _pushed up against the wall with a very hard body pressed against him. It was more contact than Iruka had ever had with a human being and he found himself thinking _Whole new meaning to rock and a hard place… _as he tried not to dwell on the implications of the situation.

Kakashi's nose nudged at his cheek, nuzzling it in faux tenderness. His breath was hot against Iruka's ear and the teen couldn't help but shudder as he started murmuring words directly into the sensitive lobe.

"_Deflowering_ is a beautiful metaphor for the act of _making love_, Iruka, and nothing to take lightly."

There were hands on his hips, then his waist, and then back on his hips. At first, Iruka thought he wasn't sure what to do with them, but the movements seemed far too _delibrate_. Like the soothing motion his mother used to make against his lower back when he'd had a nightmare except _wrong_.

It was all the more wrong for how very right it felt.

"Kunoichi are rather undervalued in our society. Which, really, is a shame because they have far more tools in their artillery than we men."

One hand had been dragged around to his stomach, barely touching, fingertips just teasing the end of his shirt.

"Gardens are really very beautiful, Iruka, and should be treated with the utmost respect. They live for us to see; it'd be doing a disservice to disrespect them so."

Somewhere, Iruka knew that Kakashi was getting further and further from seriousness, that he was just saying things and not meaning them, not really. And Iruka should be getting angry, because this was nothing if not ridiculous and those words made no sense. But Kakashi's voice was getting husky and his knee wasn't quite pressing into Iruka, but it was there and bent and Iruka wasn't very tall yet and when Kakashi shifted to nuzzle the other cheek, to breathe into the other ear there was _friction_ and he hated the man and never wanted him to move but _just move_ like that one more time…

"There's nothing shameful about being a virgin, _Iruka_."

The way he said his name made the chuunin squirm and gasp.

"It's really just part of the process. It's like asking not to be born to be alive. It's where we all start out."

There it was again, that _movement_. Iruka couldn't help but arch into the man, a whimper in his throat that he wasn't sure if held in properly.

"Women are strong creatures capable of producing life and maybe you're not a fan, but it's really very admirable. They're far stronger than us men, Iruka, and don't flaunt their weaknesses like a horny schoolboy."

With that, Kakashi stepped away from Iruka and left the young man alone in his bathroom.

The chuunin didn't move for a very long moment, eyes wide and mouth parted in what _had _been a gasp but was more disbelief now.

That _bastard_.

"And about me deflowering you?" Kakashi called, most likely from the kitchen. "Well, we'll just have to see about that, won't we? But I certainly know _when_ it happens" not if, never if with Kakashi "you _will_ let me. I'm no creep, little Iruka, I'm not going to force a kid like you into anything."

Iruka would very much have liked to dispute that fact, but he was currently trying to decide if he should kill the man now or let himself calm down enough so that the guards that came to arrest him didn't jump to conclusions about his… situation.

Decisions, decisions.

After a couple minutes - in which there were no sounds coming from his kitchen and really, that was probably not a _good_ thing - Iruka felt comfortable enough to exit the bathroom.

Kakashi was leaning over the table, his elbows propping him slightly as he stared at the mask in his hands.

"Not bad, kid," he relented, eye crinkling into a happy crescent once more. "It's pretty close to what it used to look like and it doesn't even look like it's been broken."

That kudos was in his voice again, as well as the surprise that Iruka could do such a thing.

This time, no little boy jumped for joy within the chuunin.

He marched over to the table and stared hard at the jounin. Kakashi looked back at him, a slight bit of wondering in that black eye. With a very deliberate motion, Iruka reached forward and took the mask from thin, pale fingers. Bringing the mask close to his chest, he stared down at it before spinning on his heel and hurling the thing to the ground.

Kakashi just stared at the mess. It hadn't shattered like before, having been covered with some sort of laminate or glue to make the mask look new again, but it probably couldn't be fixed this time. The glue would have to be cleaned off it first and Kakashi just _knew_ that that would rip the paint off and further chip the already damaged porcelain.

He could have prevented it, he mused, staring at the pile that still resembled his mask. But he just hadn't thought Iruka would resort to such malicious tactics.

_He _would have, of course, but _he _was hardly a moral compass. Not one calibrated properly, at least.

Finally, he looked up into the furious brown eyes of his little chuunin. Iruka was glaring at him something fierce, but did not utter another word.

_He probably doesn't want me turning it around on him again, _Kakashi thought, vaguely amused. _He doesn't have anything else to break, after all, if I do it again._

Iruka was the one to break the eye contact as he turned towards the table. He reached for Kakashi's forgotten shuriken pouch (he'd have to remember to take those shuriken out of his pocket when he got home, because they were a bitch to accidentally put in the washing machine) and then stooped in front of the pile of vanquished mask.

Careful of possible sharp edges, Iruka scoped the jumbled mess into the shuriken pouch - slightly difficult as it wasn't as small and uniform as the original pieces had been - before turning back to Kakashi.

"Well, here's your mask," he said, fake cheer suddenly lighting up his face. "I hope I didn't take too long returning it to you. I'm sure you're a very busy man. In fact, I'll understand if you have to leave _right now_."

Jounin and children alike (though, really, how weren't they alike?) would come to fear that fake voice someday. It would be used for the more serious of mission report abusers and cause them to immediately go into a corner and rewrite everything; it would be used against the worst of pranksters and cause tears to shine in young eyes as the mouth just a couple inches bellow promised _never to do it again_. But today, only one jounin knew of it and he couldn't help but be extremely amused and slightly curious about it.

What on earth could Iruka do to him that he _should_ leave, after all?

But, for now, he could humor the chuunin. With a mock salute and a cheeky grin, he used a teleportation jutsu. Partially, to impress Iruka a little.

Mostly, to make a mess of leaves in the teen's kitchen.

* * *

AN: Hope you liked it. If you did, review please (just a hint, my review policy is that I refuse to update until my new chapter has the same number of reviews as the one before it, so by not reviewing, you're keeping me from updating). Now on to the concerned reviewer!

The reviewer was concerned that Iruka fainting wasn't necessarily in-character. Normally, I'd agree. That's not in-character. But, in this case, I think it's acceptable as 1) he's sixteen, 2) he's just days into his chuunin… hood? and 3) he's a "tough" guy. "Tough" teenage boys that feel they have huge responsibilities are actually fairly easy to make "flash faint" (read: faint just long enough to fall over but come to almost immediately. If you've seen this in real life, it looks a lot like they're swooning. If you tell them they just swooned, occasionally they'll do it again, which is hilarious). Especially when put under odd forms of stress.

Also, that'd be pretty terrifying, you know? You meet the legendary Copy Nin, he harasses you for a while, his eye makes death threats (silly Iruka, an eye can't promise death), and then he says he wants you? That's a big step into any relationship that's only lasted… 10 hours? Two, if you throw out all the hours they _didn't_ see each other.

**Sequel to Pieces**- I had just finished writing the sixth chapter of Pieces when I realized that the story was already over. Well, the Pieces plot, at least. Pieces is about Iruka breaking, fixing, and returning Kakashi's mask. Of course, since it's still broken, that leaves an opening for another story (although it will have nothing to do with Kakashi's mask). I already have the first chapter done (that's what Pieces chapter 6 will be) and will be posting it soon. I'm not sure what I'll be calling it yet, but it will probably be out by tonight around 6 or 7. Just check my authors page and look for something that says Sequel to Pieces in the summary. Oh, and stop by my blog and leave a comment on the stories I have there. If I get a few comments, I just might complete those stories and post them here.


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